Sequel to CC. Nikole's story continues as she tries to locate the AST's missing creations, plays matchmaker with her friends, and tries to stop the people who want to kill her for her money from killing her.

Author's
Note: This
is a sequel
to Changing Carver. I would highly recommend reading Changing Carver
first.

--misplaced
trust---

Chapter
1: Newlyweds

Friends
were supposed to keep their friends out of trouble. Angel
thought dimly. His friends Clay Henderson, Henry Ryanson, and Luc
Borton had insisted on taking him out for a belated bachelor party.

A
woman was slipping her hand on his thigh. "I would appreciate it
if you would take your hand off me." Angel stated. His friends
watched.

She
actually crawled into his lap. "Lady, I'm married. Now get off
me!" Angel exclaimed.

"A
little wedding ring doesn't mean anything." The very attractive
blonde with big assets in her chest region, which she was shoving in
his face, said.

Angel
shoved her off. He ran to the bathroom and emptied the contents of
his stomach. He came to the realization that during this mess of a
party he had drunk alcohol.

Drinking
alcohol for a recovering alcoholic
is a very bad thing.

---misplaced
trust---

Nikole
did not appreciate the state her husband was returned in. Angel was
upset about drinking and the whole bachelor party. Nikole stroked his
hair comforting him. "It's okay, darling. You can beat
alcoholism again." She reassured.

"Oh,
Nikole. This is so bad!" He moaned.

"Honey,
we'll get through this." Nikole promised. She adored her
husband, but she also knew he had demons and faults so did she. His
demons had led to alcoholism and hers had led to distrust.

"I
can't believe this." He murmured.

"I
don't think I shall trust those three with you again." Nikole
stated. She traced his lips. He smiled. He sat up and kissed her.
Nikole kissed back eagerly.

It
showed they were definitely newlyweds. Angel picked his wife up and
carried her to their bedroom. He whispered sweet compliments in her
ear.

Nikole
woke up and turned on the news. She saw a picture of another woman in
her husband's lap looking very 'friendly'. Nikole fainted in complete
shock.

--misplaced
trust---

Three
concerned faces surrounded her—two of them being her best friends
Suzanne and Will Strauss and the other one was Angel.

"Shock
couldn't have caused this. Nik doesn't get shocked!" Will
protested. He and Angel were arguing.

"She's
awake." Suzanne murmured to the men. "Are you okay?"
She asked her best friend in obvious concern. Blue eyed Suzanne was
tall, willowy, and blonde. She was the best friend Nikole could ask
for along with Will, who was brown haired with green eyes.

"What
was that picture?" Nikole asked Angel. She stood up despite
their protests. She showed them the newspaper with the Angel and
woman picture on the front page. She was asking Angel to explain. She
couldn't believe he had cheated on her.

Will
Strauss swung at Angel, who was so shocked it hit. "Stop! Stop.
Stop." Nikole ordered as she grabbed Will's arm. Suzanne slapped
Angel. "Stop it!"

"Nikole,
the proof is right there." Will whispered as he felt horrible
for his friend.

"I
don't believe it. Let him say what happened." Nikole ordered.

"It
was stupid. I had a drink and the woman crawled in my lap. I have
you, Nikole. There's no reason for me to cheat." Angel
whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I
trust you. I believe you." Nikole stated.

"I'm
sorry, man." Will apologized.

"It's
okay. I'm glad you're protective of Nikole." Angel said calmly.
"So is there a special reason for the three of you gathering?
Silverstorm isn't under fire?" He was referring to the agency
Nikole, Will, and Suzanne ran together.

"No,
actually it's reached its potential." Will said.

"Angel,
honey, we want to discuss business with you." Nikole said. They
sat down on the couch.

"What's
up?"

"We
want to sell Silverstorm. The agency has reached its potential.
There's no room for us to grow." Will explained.

"Why
bring this up with me?"

"Well,
you and Nik are married now which means you're adopted into the
group." Will answered.

"What
are you all going to do for employment?"

"We've
gotten many job offers." Suzanne offered.

"Actually
some of my old colleagues and friends want to start up a computer
company." Nikole added.

"Ah,
and you think I will be jealous if your company does better than my
old computer company." Angel figured it out. "Don't worry
about that. I'm not going to be jealous. Do what you want to do as
long as you're happy."

"In
that case, we're all going to the beach." Nikole kissed his
cheek.

"Have
fun." They were out the door before he could change his mind.
Angel laughed. He leaned back in the seat. He expected the urge for a
drink to hit him, but it didn't instead he thought about his wife.

He
sighed and fell to sleep. He was awoken by a kiss much later. The
kiss was experienced and wasn't the kiss of his wife. He opened his
eyes to see his wife's mother. He shoved her off in shock.

"WHAT
WAS THAT?" Angel exclaimed as he stood up. Susan, Nikole's
plotting mother, looked up at him. "ARE YOU INSANE?"

"You
didn't like that?" Susan asked in mock innocence.

"No,
you're disgusting." Angel said while yearning to wash the woman
off him.

"So
you like little girls who you can teach instead of experienced
women?" Susan mocked.

"Don't
be jealous of your daughter just because she didn't have to sell
herself and her soul to survive." Angel told her.

"Like
she doesn't whore herself out to you! She sleeps around." Susan
yelled.

"No,
she doesn't." Angel stated calmly. "You are not allowed to
call my wife a whore. I will not tolerate you speaking badly of
Nikole. Now get out of my house."

"Ah,
then that's what her hilarious phone call was about. As long as you
honestly didn't like it . . . So did you like it?" Nikole asked
calmly.

"Nikole,
what I felt must have been how you felt when you were raped." He
whispered. "How did you ever get over that feeling? It had to be
ten times worse than I did."

"I
had you." She told him. "I'm sorry for my mother's
craziness." Angel pulled her into his lap.

"Not
your fault." She kissed him strongly and firmly. "That was
perfect, baby." He murmured while cradling her face. "Have
I told you how precious you are?"

"Why
am I so precious?" Nikole asked as she traced his facial
features.

"You
care about people. Against all odds you care. That's why people
worship you. Your mother is jealous because all she will ever have is
lust. You have love. That's why I love you." Angel answered.

"So
have you given any thought to your career?" Nikole asked.
Currently her husband was jobless. Not that he needed a job. They
were filthy rich.

"Actually
I'm going to be an author. I sent some of my stories into a
publisher. They want to wine and dine me. I could get a contract."
Angel answered.

"That's
awesome!" Nikole exclaimed happily. She kissed him excitedly. He
cupped her nape to bring her closer.

"See!
Look. The lovebirds can't keep their hands off each other."
Suzanne remarked.

"We're
newlyweds." Nikole reminded Susan as she turned to find Susan,
Will, her grandparents, her mother-in-law, her father-in-law, and her
parents in her living room. Her in-laws (Edward and Lorraine) and her
grandfather Alex O'Connor didn't really like her. Her grandmother
Amelia and she got along well. Her father Phil Pierce was still
trying to make it up to her for abandoning her and leaving her with
her druggie mother Susan.

Nikole
removed herself from her husband. Her cell phone rang. "Knew
today was going too well." She murmured sarcastically. She
answered her phone.

"I'm
sorry to bother you, boss." Callen Hart, one of her employees
and the agent that helped her take down the AST, apologized. AST, the
Abnormal and Special Talents Agency, had been the agency Nikole had
been driven to take down because they had been hurting innocents and
she had worked for them as a kid. The government created Abnormal and
Special Talents Agency, commonly referred to as AST, especially for
children with abnormal and/or special talents. It all looked good on
paper, but, in reality, they were stealing kids of promise and
turning them into mutants. They did this experiment to make
superhuman agents sculpted under their influences. Children were used
to perform missions to "keep America safe". Nobody knew
about AST expect a select few and nobody had ever escaped alive until
Nikole. Now AST had been taken down, but five of their mutant kids
were running around free and no one knew were they were or what they
were up to.

"That's
okay. What do you need?" Nikole asked.

"Well,
I kind of . . ."

Nikole's
high heels clicked on the jailhouse floor as she walked to her
jailbird employee. Men hooted and howled as the former supermodel of
the House of Valley strolled by. Perhaps
I shouldn't have worn a skirt. She
thought.

"I
never thought you'd be the kind to get in a bar fight." She
remarked to Callen. Then she baited him out of jail.

--misplaced
trust---

Flowers
covered her desk and office floor the next morning. She smiled
wandering what the occasion was. She looked at the card and realized
she had been married for five months.